The police department of Zimbabwe will purchase scores of riot-busting vehicles from the "Beit Alfa Trailers" company of Kibbutz Beit Alfa, as part of its preparedness for presidential elections scheduled for April 2002. According to the newspaper Financial Gazette, the Interior Ministry of Zimbabwe asked the country's treasury to transfer $105 million to Beit Alfa as the first installment of the deal. "The vehicles will be equipped with riot-control equipment similar to that used by Israel in the territories, with water canons mounted on top," reported the newspaper. Senior officials of Zimbabwe's Police Department and Interior Ministry visited Israel to inspect the vehicles, which the Israeli Police Department has been using for the past 15 years, and preferred the Beit Alfa bid to others. The management of the Beit Alfa firm declined to comment.